There was an unwelcome, distorted sound outside the living room window. Banging, rattling, squealing, it was maddening to even the most patient. It disturbed the seven-year-old Vora, who practiced calligraphy on the kitchen wall with her father’s quill. With a dopey face, she poked her head into the living room, went up to the window, opened it wide, and shoved her nose out.
There was a skirmish near the neighbor's trash. Several Soot were encircling and attacking a boy. He was in distress, and it was Vora's job to save him, as she was a beautiful, lovely savior. Foolishly, she dashed out the front door with an oak broomstick and widely whacked the Soot, feeling each strike herself.
“Go away. Bad, bad, bad,” Vora yelled as she thwacked.
Fortunately for Vora, the Soot ran rather than retaliating, leaving a sobbing, ghost-white boy alone. His brown hair was a mess, and he had tattered clothing.
Vora stood proudly, held out her hand, and wiggled her digits. “You can thank me later. All I ask in return is your eternal servitude and compliments.” When the boy revealed his ugly face and silver eyes, Vora realized her mistake of identity. “Ah, you're a Soot. Getting picked on? Unfortunately, it’s because you're foul-looking.” Vora poked her cheek. “But you’re dashing compared to most Soot I’ve seen. Nearly human. You're even wearing clothing. Even I’ve never seen that.”
The not-yet-named Soot scrambled with his thin, bony limbs into a trashcan and began to eat a rotten orange peel.
“Gross. You can’t enjoy that.” Vora crouched and curiously watched the enigmatic being for a spell. After the Soot's third rotten peel, Vora straightened and admitted, “I suppose you do then. Forget that rubbish; I have something that will be euphoric.”
The Soot drooled without understanding and watched the violet-haired girl dash into her house and come out moments later with something in her hand. She motioned him; he hesitated, and then he became close, snorting.
“See this?” Vora presented a cookie near where there should have been a nose on the Soot. “Cookie. Macaroon, in fact. Can you say 'macaroon?' Ma-ca-roon.” Vora pointed at herself. “Vo-ra.”
The Soot snatched the cookie quickly, shoved it into his mouth, and crawled up a wall. Vora watched as the Soot disappeared at the roofline, leaving the sun to flash her vision whenever she blinked for the next few minutes.
“Eh. Not very brave or strong or gracious. I’ve thought of a name, though….”
***
Puggly stayed guarded, bouncing his sight between Cherub and her Soot. When an opponent approached and attacked, Puggly would easily counter the attack. He would use his black tongues to gore his brethren and swiftly consume them.
“Ewww. Do you have a pet Soot of your own? Funny. Hilarious. Too rich.” Cherub put her horn to her lips. “Poetic to be eaten alive by your slobbering, dumb friend.” Cherub blew the horn. “Go kill the Monarch!”
Instead of Cherub’s demand, Puggly decimated her army, consumed their flesh, and became more monstrous. A shadowy aura in the form of black smoke plumed from his skin. He lashed his tongues at Cherub, and she kept them away with a bladed spear.
“No Soot disobeys me,” Cherub pouted and kicked her feet. “Never. Not once. Failed, slobbering Chimes. Father’s mistakes. They obey me.”
Puggly had consumed every Soot Cherub called. She whined and summoned hundreds of brass spears via sigils of light.
“You’re just a bonus point along with Monarch’s head.” Cherub launched her hundreds of spears. “My score is incredible, by the way,” she said earnestly.
Puggly caught most of the brass weapons with his tongues and was pierced in the ribs by the remainder. He tossed the weapons aside and healed his wounds, and black sigils appeared around him. Zigzagging shadows crackled out of the dark designs and chased Cherub.
“You’ll never catch me,” Cherub laughed mockingly as she dodged the shadows effortlessly. She sprayed light particles from her palm, and the shadows poofed away. “I’m really, really busy, so—ewww.” Cherub plugged her nose. “That’s foul.”
Puggly used his tongues to consume Behemoth piece by bit like a black hole. Large chucks that shouldn’t possibly have fit squeezed into Puggly’s maw. Even the parts that were on fire went down trivially. With his eating speed, it wasn’t long until Behemoth was gone.
Puggly’s humanoid, potbellied-but-scrawny body mutated into some otherworldly beastly. He grew scarlet claws, a scaled tail with a blade, black fur, and his eyes glowed entirely silver. A constant smoke-like shadow veiled and fumed off his body.
Cherub became horrified. “This makes sense. You’re the first failure. The first Soot. First mistake. Reaper. Sin Eater. A cautionary tale for children. We were told that Maiden Sympha dealt with you a long time ago.” Cherub grinned. “Guess she didn’t have the heart and cut you down instead. Turned you into a trash-eating lump of hunk. The Maiden truly is loving and merciful. I’m not.”
“Macarooooon!” Puggly howled to the sky confidently. While he spewed sound, the Soot’s shadow smoke spread around the area. The sun was dimmed along with the Burning Bell’s flame, and the grass and stone of the city became black. “Vora…” Puggly roughly mumbled.
“You’re completely unstable, far from what you were before.” Cherub tossed a spear that rippled the air and homed in on Puggy. “I doubt you have long like that, so I’ll wonderfully cut your life short.”
A black sigil formed above Cherub, and she avoided it. A black scythe slid out of it. Simultaneously, Puggly dodged the spear, became a shadowy blur, zipped over to Cherub, caught the scythe midway during a downward swing, and sliced the small Chime between her gold eyes, head to toe.
“Vora. My macaroon,” Puggly declared. “Mine!”
***
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Vora’s struggle to break Puggly’s bindings grew ever pointless. He had used a severed tongue as rope and fastened her to a tree a reasonable distance from hostility.
“Let me down, Puggly. We need to leave. This isn’t a game.”
After a minute, Vora heard the word “Macaroon!” shouted by a beast. Her eyes goggled, and she viciously bit the gross black tongue rope and ripped a chunk off.
He’s just sacrificing himself… for me. Vora heard the word again in the distance. I won’t let him die! He can’t, right? That cake. Yeah, that cake. He won’t die at the cost of cake. Not Puggly. Vora broke free, fell to the ground, and booked it toward the skirmish, creating a dam for her tears and worries.
***
The golden fire of Cherub’s resurrection scorched Puggly and the shadow area around them. The spear Cherub tossed before Puggly’s attack stuck out of the Soot’s spine and burned white hot. Cherub fluttered with her arms crossed. Her body had grown into a sizeable, mature woman about the size of a building. Her rosy-red hair was long, her wings were fluffy and scarlet, her cute eyes had turned cold, and her body was curvy. She hovered above with livid air.
“No one has ever touched me like that. You’re disgusting. Foul. Unloved. Rude. I’m an Ascended. One of seven. Closest to our father’s might. A true servant of Sympha, even when I disobey, it’s all for her.”
“Vora…” Puggly grumbled as he tried to evade the white spears that followed him like missiles. They singed everything they flew past. “Thank you… for care.”
Puggly was skewered and bled black blood through the shadow smoke. He retaliated, repeatedly springing to Cherub and slicing her many times. The slices left permanent shadows in her flesh, but she either healed the wounds or resurrected the fatal blows.
Black sigils, about the size of Puggly, popped up all over the battlefield. He slammed his scythe on the ground, and charcoal-textured arms burst and swarmed out.
Cherub screamed as the darkness restrained her. The arms grabbed her bare legs and arms, neck, and wings.
“Monster-freak! The Maiden should have burned you.” The sound of a bell should’ve comforted Cherub, but the bell above her head was obsidian. “You do this, and the Burning Bell will smite you,” she hopelessly threatened.
Puggly prayed upward as a shrine of obsidian stone rose from the ground. Cherub was slammed face-down on a sacrificial altar. The arms released her, but she still couldn’t move.
“The obsidian bell casts judgment indiscriminately,” Puggly growled cleanly. “Blood for blood. Soul for soul. Out of the Burning Bell’s light.”
Cherub tried to respond annoyingly, but even her tongue was locked under the obsidian bell. She goggled when Puggly popped up next to her and grabbed her wings.
“The choice is made.” Puggle sharply lobbed off her scarlet wings, which dissolved into shadows. Puggly’s orbs glowed bright silver, and he grinned. “Soul for soul.”
A nightmare of horrors filled Cherub’s mind. Twisted faces of those she’d killed staring at her. A blonde woman led the group, smiling at the Chime with a finger against her lips.
Outside the Kindler’s mind, Puggly grabbed her scarlet threads, pulled back, and placed his blade against her throat.
“Goodbye, Vora….”
***
Vora came to the odd, tall shrine that had mysteriously appeared there, along with dancing shadows in the air. She couldn’t see what transpired at the top, but she could see a floating black bell that rang eerily.
Vora experienced great suffering from above. “Puggly!? Puggly, get down here.” She swallowed hard. “I’ll come up there and kick your ass if you don’t,” She shouted, mirroring her mother’s energy.
She guarded herself as a dark object fell toward her. She flipped out of the way and paused before investigating. It was Cherub’s severed head. It was like ink had splashed and stained her face, hair, and neck.
She’s still suffering in death. Vora spat on the head, leaking brass. He’s up there…. He’s…. I have to heal him somehow.
The obsidian bell dissolved, and the shrine descended into the ground. Puggly was gently placed on the ground, lying there, and breathing shallowly. He’d shrunk back to his boy size when Vora first met him.
The purple-haired woman went to her friend and supported his head. “You did good. You did good, Puggly.” She placed her soft fingers on his clammy chest and soaked golden energy through them. Her Soot buddy lost his discomfort.
“Vora…”
“It’s fine. You’re fine.” She took out some candy, placed it in his mouth, and chewed it. “That’s all I have for now, but when we return, I’ll make you that cake.”
Droplets splashed on Puggly’s forehead. He swallowed the candy, and his lids fell slowly. No pain, only comfort and drowsiness.
“I apologize for not saying so, but you’re incredibly handsome, and naturally, I love you.”
Puggly’s nostrils ceased their constant size changes, and his ribcage rose no more.
***
Vora sat by the pyre as her friend lay on it. Fireflies flutter about in the night.
Look who came back. Is our trash the best in town? Naturally, it would be.
She sat until dawn when the fire was snuffed and carefully gathered her friend into a jar she’d formed from Eoa crystals. It may have been the first time she’d used her magic for a creation that wasn’t hostile.
Oh, it’s you. Could you not scratch at my window? I’m trying to study; I don’t need it, naturally. Is that hairclip for me? I could polish it and make it pretty.
Vora carefully walked up a hill with the jar clutched tight. The dew on the grass caused slipping—Vora’s specialty to some—but she refused to succumb to gravity.
Under a bridge now, Puggly? And you have a hat, how cute and festive. Here. This is my favorite flavor: banana grape. I’ll get you something tasty from the bridge.
Vora stood at the cliff, strongly overlooking the world beyond. After a deep breath, she slightly crouched, sprang up, and tossed the jar into the air.
The pot burst open as butterflies of all colors danced with the spreading ashes. From behind, Vora launched billions more butterflies. They joined Puggly on his journey to the rising sun.
“Goodbye, Puggly….”
***
Vora and Monarch confronted each other in the hollow place in their soul. Both were somber from the recent loss. But, life continued for Vora Snihde, and a life without Eoa would commence.
“It’s over then? I can just take over your body and bury you.” Monarch graced her chest. “That’s what you plan for me.”
“Naturally. And I could just toss you out completely. Let the world deal with you.”
“Ah, but promises are meant to be kept,” Monarch sighed.
“Mother would kill us if we didn’t,” Vora joked.
“So, what’s going to happen to me? Leave me with the entirety of the Eoa and lock me away while you walk free.”
“I’m disappointed. Only half right. All the Eoa goes to you, but you won’t suffer. You’ll lose all senses and sentience permanently. Like a statue.”
“I’ll die, then?”
“Yes.”
Monarch grinned, “I’ll no longer feel others’ misery. You have no idea how much I’ve experienced.” Monarch crushed her brows angrily and repeated, “No idea…”
“And I never will,” Vora said seriously. She put a hand on her hip and leaned a bit. “And I promise you won’t either.”
Monarch offered her hand. “This will be our last time to become whole. You don’t get another chance. Who knows what will happen without a piece of your soul intact. You may become ugly, or dumb, or charmless.”
“I’m willing to make that sacrifice,” Vora replied without hesitation.
The purple-haired woman shoved her middle and index fingers down her throat, hunched over, and spewed purple aura. It went from the size of a puddle and exploded into an ocean. Vora put her palm down, snapped her finger, and the stringy Eoa poured into Monarch.
Tears streamed from Monarch’s pearls and down her cracked cheeks. “Vora.”
“What is it?” Vora tilted her head.
“Don’t waste this opportunity,” Monarch demanded. “The next time I see you will be at the end, and you’ll tell me it all.”
“I’ll have many stories to tell,” Vora smirked. “A roller coaster of a normal life.”
After a second snap, Monarch, with her white eyes, white hair, and broken gray skin, became an ethereal being of jewels, then changed into a small, motionless crystal butterfly. It sank into the darkness and swallowed it, leaving the hollow part of Vora’s soul a space of soft light. The pain was gone, her cursed gift was gone, the Monarch witch was gone, and Vora cried joyfully.